It's unfortunate that this album has been relatively ignored, in comparison to its abysmal predecessor, "Famous Last Words."Just listen to "Better Days" and then go watch the video for "My Kind of Lady." Davies proved his own talents admirably here in the absence of Hodgson, who, despite subsequently pushing a narrative that he, himself, basically "was" Supertramp, has not written anything this engaging since his departure prior to "Brother Where You Bound." I think the facts here speak for themselves -- the whole of the Davies/Hodgson joint collaboration was simply a greater and grander phenomenon than the sum of its part, in any case. For most of their career as a band, the mere presence of one another propelled both men to exceed themselves and coax their best possible work onto tape. So it seems misguided to form factions based on "loyalty" to one or the other, as least as misguided as dismissing "Brother Where You Bound" as not a "real" Supertramp record simply due to the lineup change. Rick holds it together and lays it down right on this one, just wish I could say the same of any subsequent studio albums (the live ones are pretty good.)
It's unfortunate that this album has been relatively ignored, in comparison to its abysmal predecessor, "Famous Last Words."Just listen to "Better Days" and then go watch the video for "My Kind of Lady." Davies proved his own talents admirably here in the absence of Hodgson, who, despite subsequently pushing a narrative that he, himself, basically "was" Supertramp, has not written anything this engaging since his departure prior to "Brother Where You Bound." I think the facts here speak for themselves -- the whole of the Davies/Hodgson joint collaboration was simply a greater and grander phenomenon than the sum of its part, in any case. For most of their career as a band, the mere presence of one another propelled both men to exceed themselves and coax their best possible work onto tape. So it seems misguided to form factions based on "loyalty" to one or the other, as least as misguided as dismissing "Brother Where You Bound" as not a "real" Supertramp record simply due to the lineup change. Rick holds it together and lays it down right on this one, just wish I could say the same of any subsequent studio albums (the live ones are pretty good.)